Michigan pros and cons.

Pros:
You can make a LOT and i mean a LOT of money here. If you're in the right industry.
Cost of living is low.
The state is beautiful. In my opinion, probably the best state for outdoors and recreation east of the Mississippi.
Downtown Detroit is beautiful, but SSHH, don't tell anyone. Just keep watching the news.
It's diverse, lots of nationalities around here. I love the culture. Probably not like NYC though.
Low traffic, you'll almost never be in a traffic jam. Nobody lives here anymore.
You'll have two homes, your normal home and a place "up north".
Lots of water activities here.
No vehicle inspection. (this could be a Con too, some people drive around in really clapped out ****)
We have the best Pizza in the country.

Cons:
Roads suck.
Taxes suck, gas tax is killer here.
Jobs are limited, you have to be in the right field.
Snow and winter. Salt. Everything between thanksgiving and St. Patrick's day sucks.
Worst of all, you have to border Ohio. Then any time you want to leave the state, chances are you have to drive through it.

I'm sure i'm missing a ton.
Really, the only reason to come here would be for work or outdoor activities.


But what about the one you left out, you know, the murder capital of the country?

 

*Fooger hates this

 

Michigan cons (continued): Kid Rock.

 

It's not hate, it's a lack of self-guilt. Be proud of who you are, and hope that everyone else does the same regardless of where they're from or what they look like. When we're all proud of who we are, we tend to hate others less. The hate you feel is a product of guilt; guilt is a learned and entirely self-inflicted behavior taught to you by others who want to manipulate your freedom to think and act for yourself through the tool of shame. Once you're free of that guilt, you won't hate others who are free of that guilt, and you'll have far more self-confidence sharing your observations and experiences with others, regardless of how uncomfortable your shared experiences and observations makes them. Others will want to censor your speech just as you wish to censor mine above, but by then you'll understand that it's not really you they don't like; they simply hate themselves, and I suppose by me that's quite alright.

I guess neg-cat away, you and your 4 or 5 friends. I'm really happy for you that you've never met a person or group of people that you don't particularly care for, but for those of us in the real world, the experiences are true. Even heroin dealers frequently avoid selling or associating with specific groups of people.

I hope for you a heightened sense of self-pride, self-worth, and self-love. And in the future, when you present a data point or observation that disproportionately disparages one group over another, I hope the world accepts your data point as a data point, and doesn't shout profanities and insults in your face because they don't like you saying it, even if it holds to be a generally true data point.

 

I'm just trying to tell the OP that the Shawarmas here are LIT.

 

Y i k e s.

 

ITT: Random Ohio-man justifies his racism to himself by telling himself he's proud of it. Wild lol

 

The States Americans Are Fleeing (And Where They Are Flocking To)

 

The grass is rarely greener. Having left CA twice, all I found were a different set of issues, irritants, and BS. You might consider taking stock of what you do have and how those things may be different elsewhere.

 

I mean, racism and cognitive dissonance usually go hand in hand, but damn.

 

Are you married? If so, better ask her. At the risk of being labelled a misogynist, my experience is that guys can live just about anywhere (I used to live beneath Catapult #2 on the USS Saratoga, I've also done Alaska in Winter and Phoenix in Summer) -- women not so much.

My wife (originally from Maryland) loves where we live now, therefore I am happy. I do get to do a lot of year-round racing though.

 

It worked out well for David Koresh...

 

We do have higher reg fees for EVs and Hybrids, but thats pretty minimal and becoming the norm everywhere. I'll ignore the Keep Ohio Texas stuff.


More Ohio tidbits:
My total cost of living from southern Orange county California back to Delaware county Ohio went down by very little, most of it related to car insurance. My CPA also fired me when we moved to OH.
Ohio is ranked 8/9th, depending on the year, in Property tax, usually right behind Texas, but Texas has no state income tax...
Ohio has over double the average property tax of California, 1.58% vs .73%.
My county, Delaware, is 1.82% property tax(Orange cty is .69%) My 2 bedroom ranch is over $12k/year in property tax, but I get a decent abatement as it is a primary residence, net cost ~$8800/yr
The Texas property tax comparo is fun because Ohio is also well above average in State and Local income taxes(10.3% vs CA 11.5%), ranked 18/19 depending on the year. Some OH cities don't offer full reciprocation, and we have had to pay full pop to Delaware city + 1% to Columbus due to place of spouse employment, which puts OH State+Local at a CA-esque 11.3%. This municipality crap is why my CPA fired me.

SE Ohio is mostly super poor ex-coal country, some of the poorest counties per capita in the country, some with no municipal trash service, most with shrinking populations, no jobs, etc.

OH does have a great overall business climate, and the blue corridor down 71 from Cleveland to Cinci is abuzz with tech, finance, insurance, etc employers. We weathered the 2008 crisis way better than most due to the sectors our state economy was involved in. The largest indoor commercial campus in the country is/was JPMorgan/Chase at Polaris, north of Columbus. NE Columbus has a facebook office, a google data center, the Intel factory mentioned, etc. We're called "The Silicon Heartland"

We get all the seasons, which is good or bad subjectively. You can do almost any outdoor hobby here at least 2-3 months/year.
We have 1 of every pro sport, I think?
Columbus is often a test market for fast food and chain restaurants, which means most suburbs are pretty poor for independent/ethnic food.

Overall, big MEH. My current employer is in Silicon Valley and I travel there as often as they'll pay for.

Edit: I vacation to central and upper michigan when i'm not going coastal. the U.P. is very high on my potentials list for reasons mentioned above.

 

When president Lars makes Ohio a lake the great lakes will draIn into the Mississippi River. That should help commerce.

 

That's a bit misleading. CA property tax is 1.25% of assessed value, but prop 13 limits how quickly the assessed value can rise over time. So yes, the average rate across the state is lower than 1.25%, but that's only because there are many people who've owned the same house for 20+ years. That doesn't help much if you're looking at moving here.

--Ian

 

I looked at some properties in Maine a while back, don't recall which area but housing prices did seem to be quite agreeable (compared to what we have here).

I'm trying to avoid moving anywhere near the coast. I live near the water now - as in, look out the window, and there are boats. The threat of natural disaster is always looming, and I think it'll only get worse in the coming years. We've had to deal with flooding over the years and water damage is certainly less than fun.

Yep, spent a lot of time in Henrico specifically. I figured I was bound to get pulled over at some point, but never did. My car at the time wasn't that extensively modified, and I wouldn't say I did any excessive speeding. I don't remember seeing many modified/enthusiast cars in the area whenever I was in town - perhaps that's telling.

I have family members that have done this. I don't plan to add to the count :P

Please do elaborate - what kind of industry are we talking?

That's the purpose of this thread - Where else am I going to find first hand accounts of the aforementioned issues, irritants, and BS from somewhat likeminded people?

The alure of certain aspects of New York isn't lost on me - for all of its issues, I know there are some special things you won't find anywhere else. I think my goal here is to find out if there's someplace that has a superior ratio of irritants to special things

Nope, live alone and don't plan on changing that in the foreseeable future. Though I do have family here, so I'll always have ties back to New York.

All very interesting points. I have a co-worker that moved to New York from Ohio - we seem to value opposite things in life (he loves to party) so it could be a good fit, ha.

TIL "Silicon Heartland", sounds great for tech workers

 

Really enjoying the conversation in this thread (well, most of it) - it really helps to get firsthand accounts from hair dressing enthusiasts on the Internet .

 

For sure...just remember that people moving to a given state IS a type of issue, irritant, and BS for those that reside there. That is, you can imagine how people in some states react when "Californians" show up. Haha. Not sure if it is the same for "New Yorkers".

 

I live in Charleston, SC. It's a pretty good city and a nice state. There is lot's of good food/restaurants, a bunch of beaches, old historical sites, NO emissions or safety inspections on vehicles, and the cost of living is fairly decent.

I purchased my home 6 years ago for 108k, now it's worth about 180-200k. There are a TON of homes being built around here especially with new businesses and factories being made. Volvo just setup a plant down here, Boeing's been here for a while with more companies on the way.

Traffic isn't horrible. There are areas where it can suck depending on the time of day but overall it's never a problem. The roads around here can be kind of bland, not much elevation change but there are some good straight highway's and good country roads.

Weather is decent, a hurricane every once in a while but mostly regular thunderstorms. There is a horrible pollen season in spring time. Might as well not wash your car for 2-3 months cause it will leave a thick yellow coating daily. Summers are hot, but winters aren't too bad. Right now the forecast this week is mid forties to mid 70's. Can't beat that.

The laws around here aren't very liberal (to me a good thing) however this is the South and it will take a while for things to get updated. Things such as legalized marijuana. It sucks for me to live in a state where it's not legal because if it was I'd quit my job as an automotive technician to be a farmer lol. I'm good at growing and it's a lot more relaxing than fixing cars all day..
I hope this helps give you some insight.

 

The food alone would make it worth living in/around Charleston.